252 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



other rivers, rivulets, brooks, and rills, is swelled, before it 

 falls into Trent, a little below Eggington, where it loses the 

 name, to such a breadth and depth as to be in most places 

 navigable, were not the passage frequently interrupted with 

 fords and weirs ; and has as fertile banks as any river in 

 England, none except/ed. And this river, from its head for a 

 mile or two, is a black water, as all the rest of the Derbyshire 

 rivers of note originally are, for they all spring from the 

 mosses ; but is in a few miles travel so clarified by the addi- 

 tion of several clear and very great springs, bigger than itself, 

 which gush out of the limestone rocks, that before it comes to 

 my house, which is but six or seven miles from its source, 

 you will find it one of the purest crystalline streams you have 

 seen.* 



VIAT. Does Trent spring in these parts 1 



Pise. Yes, in these parts ; not in this county, but some- 

 where towards the upper end of Staffordshire, I think not far 

 from a place called Trentham ; and thence runs down, not far 

 from Stafford, to Wolsly Bridge, and, washing the skirts and 

 purlieus of the forest of N eedwood, runs down to Burton, in 

 the same county ; thence it comes into this, where we now 

 are, and running by Swarkstoii and Duimington, receives 

 Derwent at Wildon ; and, so, to Nottingham ; thence, to 

 Newark ; and, by Gainsborough, to Kingston-upon-Hull, 

 where it takes the name of Humber, and thence falls into 

 the sea ; but that the map will best inform you. 



VIAT. Know you whence this river Trent derives its 

 name 1 ? 



Pise. No, indeed ; and yet I have heard it often discoursed 

 upon : when some have given its denomination from the 

 forenamed Trentham, though that seems rather a derivative 

 from it ; others have said it is so called from thirty rivers 

 that fall into it, and there lose their names ; which cannot 



* Between Beresford-hall and Ashbourn lies Dove-dale, whose crested cliffs 

 and swii't torrents are again noticed by Mr. Cotton in his tk AVonders of the 

 Peak." Through this singularly deep valley the Dove runs for about two 

 miles, changing its course, its motion, and its appearance perpetually ; never 

 less than ten, and rarely so many as twenty yards in width ; making a con- 

 tinued noise by rolling over or falling among loose stones. The rocks which 

 form its sides are heaved up in enormous piles, sometimes connected with each 

 other and sometimes detached; some perforated in natural cavities, others 

 adorned with foliage ; with here and there a tall rock, having nothing to 

 relieve the bareness of its appearance but a mountain-ash flourishing at the 

 top. The grandeur of its scenery is probably unrivalled in England. H. 



